Cork Workers’ Party Councillor Ted Tynan has welcomed the discovery of the first proven commercial oil well off the County Cork coast but has said that development of the resource must be based locally and the financial and jobs benefits should come to the people of Ireland, not multinational oil companies.

Cllr. Tynan said that the Irish state should be undertaking its own oil and gas exploration and development of proven resources.   The recovery of these resources should be based in Cork.  This he said could be done by a state oil and gas corporation pooling the best of the skills and expertise available at the ESB, Bord Gais and other state companies and hiring in oil & gas experts from Norway and other countries if they are needed instead of just giving away the resource to native and foreign capitalists and taking a tiny cut from their profits as in the case of Corrib Gas.

“This find”, said Cllr Tynan, “has the potential to transform the economy of Cork and indeed of the entire country, especially if other oil finds prove commercial.  It is not acceptable to be offered a few crumbs from the likes of Tony O’Reilly Junior and his Providence Resources corporation while the real benefits go into  their Swiss bank accounts and the jobs boom of the oil  goes to Aberdeen.   The resource belongs to the Irish people and the harvesting of that resource should benefit Irish workers and the domestic economy”.

“The Port of Cork is well capable of dealing with the logistics of servicing the oil industry.  It has plenty of capacity and has handled offshore gas supply ships for decades.  The industry should be based in Cork instead of leaving a potential jobs boom go somewhere else when jobs are so badly needed here.  The ball is now in the government’s court but it must act quickly and ensure that the benefit of this find stays at home.”, said Cllr. Tynan

Issued 15th March 2012